The present invention relates to wheel suspensions for front wheels of motor vehicles.
A conventional front wheel suspension for motor vehicles is disclosed, for example, in JP-A 5-178041. This front wheel suspension comprises a support member rotatably supporting to a front wheel and having an upper portion and a lower portion, a lower link swingably supported by a vehicle body and pivotally supporting the support member at the lower portion thereof, a connecting member mounted to the upper portion of the support member for rotation about an axis thereof, a shock absorber operatively connected between the vehicle body and the connecting member, an upper link swingably supported by the vehicle body and connected to the connecting member, and a tie rod operatively connected to the support member to rotate the support member about a king pin axis aligned with the axis of rotation of the connecting member. The upper link has an end having two branches and pivotally mounted to the connecting member at two point thereof. Due to such construction, the front wheel suspension presents not only a merit of the strut type, but that of the double wishbone type.
As for the above conventional front wheel suspension, however, the upper link and the connecting member are connected to each other at two points to enable relative rotation about a connecting shaft extending in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle, so that, when mounting the upper link to the connecting member, two resilient bushes or joints which are rotatable only about their respective axes such as a ball joint are needed, resulting in a unsolved problem of increased weight and cost. Moreover, due to a need to dispose two joints in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle, or dispose to the shaft extending in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle a joint which is generally axially long, and rotatable only thereabout, the front wheel suspension has large longitudinal length, resulting in a unsolved problem of less degree of freedom of layout in view of interference with a tire/wheel upon turning thereof.
Such unsolved problems can be solved by connecting the upper link and the connecting member at one point. As for such simple one-point connection of the upper link and the connecting merrier, however, when the tire undergoes a lateral force upon turning of the motor vehicle, etc., the connecting member is rotated about the connecting shaft with a wheel support member, making very difficult a balance of the camber rigidity and the lateral rigidity, resulting in a possible occurrence of a mounting problem.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide wheel suspensions for front wheels of motor vehicles which ensure appropriate maintaining of a balance of the camber rigidity and the lateral rigidity.